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Criticised Assimil programs | ||
Tags: Assimil | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| staf250 Pentaglot Senior Member Belgium emmerick.be Joined 5687 days ago 352 posts - 414 votes  Speaks: French, Dutch*, Italian, English, German Studies: Arabic (Written) | Message 57 of 67 21 July 2014 at 10:58am | IP Logged | ||
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I looked up the word "shocker"! Wow.
I'm using Assimil Arabic from French tot Arabic. It's quite complete, I like it :) After taking help from a teacher of Arabic he gave me the advice to read Arabic without the little accents and to go on quicker. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Paco Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 4267 days ago 145 posts - 251 votes Speaks: Cantonese* | Message 58 of 67 27 July 2014 at 8:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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Have you ever found a course with audio done by non-native speakers and/or "semi-native"
speakers? Last time, after reviewing the Cantonese samples, I doubted if they were in fact made by "native speakers" who speak a "distorted version" of the language (seemingly influenced by French; as opposed to that spoken by people in Hong Kong or Macau), and non-natives. Then I wonder whether the same thing happens in other cases, especially non-European languages, e.g. Arabic, Persian, Hindi, Japanese, etc. Edited by Paco on 28 July 2014 at 3:54pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4658 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 59 of 67 28 July 2014 at 11:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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Some UK-made courses of American English (like
"American Headway) feature British voice actors imitating a general American accent (it sounds comically contrived). Edited by Medulin on 28 July 2014 at 11:15pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| JamesS Diglot Newbie Australia Joined 4205 days ago 20 posts - 30 votes Speaks: English*, Indonesian Studies: Javanese, German, Mandarin | Message 60 of 67 02 August 2014 at 8:09am | IP Logged | ||
I've often wondered what the point of having two separate English courses is. Sure, there are different accents (although significantly more than could be covered by the total of eight or so actors that I'm guessing are used between the two editions) and some minor differences in vocabulary and spelling, but it's still the same language. Is this just a marketing ploy or do they hope to double their profit by selling both books to English learners? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tristano Tetraglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4037 days ago 905 posts - 1262 votes Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English Studies: Dutch | Message 61 of 67 05 August 2014 at 1:12am | IP Logged | ||
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Well for example I am interested only in British English (because it is the original one,
like I wouldn't study Surinaamse Dutch) while all the other people I knew in my life prefer American English because it is more international. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| alang Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7211 days ago 563 posts - 757 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 62 of 67 13 February 2015 at 10:46am | IP Logged | ||
I am glad the recommendation by the member Lykeio of ignoring the audio aspect of Assimil and just sticking to the text was not taken seriously. I could just imagine people who listen and imitate the Cantonese course thinking, the sound is the standard version with native speakers and be shocked when they find out it might not be the case. The audio is an important part of any language and with the Assimil course both have to be reviewed, due to the reason a customer would like to be well informed, instead of missing information, that would help adjust the language study accordingly. The only idea I have is to let native speakers of particular languages listen to the non-European languages of Assimil and judge what kind of accent it is. If they are able to tell if it is a native speaker or if the audio is strange to their ears. Edited by alang on 13 February 2015 at 10:50am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5120 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 63 of 67 13 February 2015 at 3:30pm | IP Logged | ||
I'm not really convinced that American English is more "international". I think American English media is more diffused throughout the world, but I also think that it's pretty easy to find British expats in any part of the world. Hell, even in the US, in every city I've ever lived in I've worked with, known and met many Brits. R. == 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| leroc Senior Member United States Joined 4301 days ago 114 posts - 167 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 64 of 67 13 February 2015 at 7:39pm | IP Logged | ||
American English is actually more conservative than British English. It's closer to how English used to sound hundreds of years ago. Edited by leroc on 13 February 2015 at 7:44pm 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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